"The North Gate Cemetery was begun In April 1917 and has been greatly enlarged since the end of the First World War by graves brought in from other burial grounds in Baghdad and northern Iraq, and from battlefields and cemeteries in Anatolia where Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried by the Turks. "

If you click on the cemetery at the botom of the war graves page there is a full explanation there.

Thanks for that.

As luck would have it, I had read the note which says:

QUOTE

The North Gate Cemetery was begun In April 1917 and has been greatly enlarged since the end of the First World War by graves brought in from other burial grounds in Baghdad and northern Iraq, and from battlefields and cemeteries in Anatolia where Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried by the Turks. At present, 4,160 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War are commemorated by name in the cemetery, many of them on special memorials.

While it tells me what the above notes say in my previous posts, it doesn't give me any information as to the why. There doesn't seem to be a distinct policy here unless by treaty, the Turks would not have foreign military cemeteries on the Anatolian heartland because they exist at Gallipoli. Even if we looked at Anatolia as a descrete unit, it doesn't explain why there are 3,236 French graves at Morto Bay, inland from S Beach and within cooee of the Canakkale Martyrs' Memorial.

You can see what I am getting at - more the reason why Baghdad was picked for an Australian who was picked up at Gaza and possibly would be best returned there - that would be logical. At the moment, the reasoning still defies my understanding.

I didn't realise that we had crossed posts. Thanks for the insert. I appreciate you taking the time to go to the CWGC site to copy and paste the relevant section. I think we were doing it simultaneously. It is a case of great minds think alike ...

I suspect that you may never know for sure but it looks like Gaza was used to collect the temporary scattered graves from the battlefield but not the more substantial grave sites. Bahgdad was later used as a consolidation site where these more substantial but still relatively small cemetaries were re-located.

Thanks for that mate. Makes sense. In view of Steve's reply and yours, I have rapidly come to the conclusion that your comments cannot be bettered. It will be one of those Marie Celeste problems that sail on knowing no home.

I am a great nephew of Private Herbert George May, & was very interested to recently read this discussion forum from 2006. I am going to Turkey this year, & would be interested to know where I can find more information about the location of Bor POW camp, in which my great uncle was held, & also the hospital in Nigde in which he died, as well as the location of the cemetery in Nigde where he was originally buried. I would appreciate the help of anyone who can steer me in the right direction.